MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

the jennings visit Idaho

ahhhhhh, the springs....

we visited adam's work and were able to tour the new construction...

we've lived here for 13 years and have never visited the old penitentiary. it's something i always say we are going to do, but never do. it was super cool...

we visited tablerock on the windiest day. we took shelter in the creepy caves...

and lastly, the botanical gardens. a beautiful place on a sunny day...

this and that

nitrogen ice cream at the creamistry. YUM!

we tried to spend as much time as possible outside because of kitty. jesse and molly built a beautiful patio, so we ate out there most nights.

they spend lots of time doing this...

 cuz time always feels good, especially after the beach...

 lyla found a friend

as we were getting in the van to drive back home, we saw a light in the sky. it was eerie and cool...and eerie. we found out it was one of elon musk's rockets. 

tide pools

we went to some new tide pool that the camps found. us at the top...

the hike down was a little sketchy, but worth it

shane about to get wet...

 just taking it all in with uncle jesse

this garibaldi got stuck in a tidepool. we're hoping he made it out when the water came up

 the pools were beautiful...

la jolla

a million times over, this is my favorite place on the planet. we had a perfect day.

i just love this face...

 no seagull is safe...

we brought our new paddle board, it was a hit. this was the first time they both stood up...

now it's old hat, haha...

 the coolest thing was that you cold look down on the leopard sharks. there were a ton of them. the vantage point from up there gave you a good look at them. such a good investment:)

sd

cousins!

 the kids hadn't experience the yogurt mill since they could remember. it's still good:)

pretty sweet hotel pool

 we met up with the cruz family and got to meet Juniper for the first time. such a cutie!

ezra enjoying the h2o

straight to the beach

we arrived in la to beautiful beach weather...

it was bright!

still bright;)

 eli is learning to body surf, he loves playing in the waves. he can still stay in the cold water all.day.long. everybody else has to rotate out, but not him. it's crazy.

the scariest day

we were finishing up our weekly riding lesson. with only five minutes left eli said he felt dizzy and lightheaded. i thought little of it and told him to cool down his horse, he only had 3 more minutes left. he turned to take the horse back out, but almost immediately turned around and came back.

   he got off his horse and sat on the fence, hands on his knees. then his face was in the dirt. he passed out and fell cheek first to the ground. the 5 foot fence separated us, which i could have easily hopped had i been processing properly. but i was not. all i could do was yell, "ELI! ELI! OH MY GOD!" i was frozen scared.

   his instructor ran to him and lifted him into his lap, he was also panicked, and kept calling eli's name. then it got worse. eli's arms curled up to his chest and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. he convulsed. i lost it.

  i started to dial 911 when i hear eli say, "what's wrong? why are you guys crying?" he was awake, face covered in dirt, and confused as to why lyla and i were in tears. he was white in his lips and face,  and weak, but his mind was clear and normal. he reassured me, over and over, that he was okay. the whole episode lasted 10-15 seconds, but felt like hours.

   we drove to the er, tears falling down the whole way. mine, not his, of course. and after a few hours, tons of tests, lots of needles and a brain scan. he was fine. they don't know exactly what happened. they think it was "the perfect storm" of low protein, dehydration and possibly his sitting position on the horse. i guess, and hope, we'll never know, because that will mean that this was a one time fluke thing that we will only have to experience this one time and never again. this pic was just a few minutes before he went down...

same day

lyla has been feeling bad for quite some time now. she has a constant headache, low energy, and just all around feels bad. she is not the bouncy, energetic, fun girl she used to be. it's been hard. heartbreaking. many tears have been lost by both her and i over this last year. it's beyond frustrating. she went gluten free about a year ago, which seemed to help at first, but over time it's been getting progressively worse. so our pediatrician ordered blood work. just happened to be the same day as eli's draw...

eli's thyroid is still swollen. his blood tests all come back normal, but his iodine uptake is slightly high. for now we are just monitoring it to see what happens.

riding lessons

the kids have been wanting to take riding lessons for a while now. we finally got them set up. it's been fun!